Convert cups (us customary) to cups (us legal) for cooking measurements.
Definition: A US customary cup is a volume unit equal to about 236.588 milliliters.
History/origin: The cup was standardized in the United States as cookbooks and measuring sets replaced rough household approximations.
Current use: US cups are central to American recipes for liquids, flour, sugar, and many household ingredients.
Definition: The US legal cup is a regulatory volume measure, not the usual home-cooking cup. Its value is exactly 240 mL.
History/origin: Food labeling rules needed a clean, consistent serving-size measure, so regulators defined a cup value that differs slightly from the customary kitchen cup.
Current use: The legal cup is used in US nutrition facts, serving-size references, packaged-food compliance, and official calculations where exact label values matter.
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